A FORMER soldier has launched a legal action against police in Hampshire claiming he was wrongly arrested and imprisoned.

Ex-Welsh Guardsman Terence Benn says officers breached his human rights when they held him in a cell.

The 74-year-old claims he was denied medication and food that he could eat for hours.

Hamsphire Police are contesting the case, which is before Winchester County Court.

Mr Benn, who served in the army for 17 years, said he was locked up for more than six hours.

Jurors heard that he was arrested after a dispute with bailiffs.

Mr Benn, who is defending himself, said after leaving the Army he came to Hampshire.

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He ran the Bakers Arms pub in Droxford for 15 years until retiring in 2000, but said he hit legal problems when selling the business.

The cost of lawyers drained his savings, he told the court, which led to bailiffs calling at his home in Beech Grove, Owslebury.

They tried taking his Toyota Corolla, but he drove it away.

While doing so, he caught one of the bailiff ’s hands in the car door, police said, which Mr Benn denies.

A few days later, police came to his home to arrest him on suspicion of dangerous driving, common assault and obstructing a court order.

Mr Benn said: “The police started banging on the doors and windows to get me out of bed.”

He was taken to Winchester police station on the morning of January 21, 2008, and then locked in a cell.

He told jurors he was borderline diabetic, but was only offered spicy food for lunch, to which he is allergic.

He added that the cell was cold and he was refused painkillers, which he takes every four hours for aches and pains.

“For me to get food and medication I had to say I would admit to driving the car away,” he said.

Mr Benn received an official caution, but said he retracted his statement after being released.

He told jurors: “It was outrageous and I should never have been treated in this way.

“I was a pensioner locked in a cold, dirty cell without food or medication for six-and-a-half hours.

“I’m doing this (legal bid) so that other people who get arrested don’t get treated the way that I got treated.”

Police have defended their actions and Sergeant Amanda Smith, who was running the custody suite on the day Mr Benn was arrested, said they asked him if he needed medication, and when he said he was cold, they provided coffee and a blanket.

“The custody block was heated and if the heating wasn’t working we would have closed that cell,” she said.

Sgt Smith added that Mr Benn was offered several choices of meals.

“All the food that is provided in the custody centre is provided by the Home Office – it is standard food,” she said.

The case is expected to last one week. Proceeding.